daily thoughts, ponderings and things that inspire life

Tag Archives: wish list

……..about how this blog has been thoroughly neglected and how I can rectify that. There are so many things going on in my head lately that I should use this blog to explore those. I just end up spending my ‘spare’ time on other things, like writing, mainly. Even my frickin Art therapy diploma is all about writing at the moment! I was given some gorgeous art journals for christmas and they would be perfect for starting my creative journey and exploring ideas in a visual way, but again, I haven’t got time.

I wish I could give up work but yes, like that’s going to happen.

How do other people cope with all this frustration?

Am I really that crap at time management? Am I trying to do too much?

Here’s what I want to do, just an indulgent brainstorm and not in any particular order based on preference:

art journaling relating to my diploma

develop my oracle cards into a complete pack and sell them

keep up to date with my Counselling journal

take photos everyday and make a blog journal of them instead of just having them on my phone.

get to do some URBEX

explore the city where I live

get pregnant

buy a house/flat

decorate current flat and buy more interior stuff that looks like it matches

I’ve done it here, haven’t I? Given myself too many articles to read which will make me feel overwhelmed with stuff that I have to do to find more time to do everything else!

Oh crap.

Maybe this will help:

Step 1: Happy mood

If you happen to read the paper in the morning, postpone your update of the news to the evening, it is often very negative anyway and can have a bad influence on the day. Being updated once per day on the Snowden Chase should be enough, don’t you think?

If you have the liberty, change your environment from where you work! This will charge your inspiration! Go to the bookstore or library, or a coffee shop. Go to the location that works best for you.

Step 2: Daily goals

Review your personal goals and deadline for the next weeks. In which direction are you heading? Do you have to present your project to an audience in two weeks time? Then get to the preparation.

Write down 4-5 things that you would like to accomplish today. Actions like: finish a presentation, reserve the room, schedule a phone call for an interview etc.

Use the tool you prefer for this, whether it is a traditional notepad, or an app. Whatever is best for you, but just stick to one tool! If you like to use an app for this, I have been using Asana, it is works very well for this.

Step 3: Avoid distractions

Put your smartphone out of sight (and on silence).

Clean up your desk, if you have non-relevant papers lying around.

If you have to work on the computer, only open the windows that you have to work on, not more.

To turn off online distractions, make use of Self Control (Mac) or Freedom (PC) to lock distracting sites while you want to get things done (I have not used these personally, but they were recommended to me, maybe you give them a try and let me know!).

Postpone your emails to later, be productive first (I admit, this is not so easy to do at first, but once you get past the pain point, it is worthwhile!).

Step 4: Organize your day

Dedicate specific time slots to your productive time, for breaks (!), your email time, your phone call etc. Try to get a daily routine in, that should help you. For instance, schedule all your important phone calls for the early afternoon, so you can work on the most important things in the morning.

If your calendar is externally-steered through meetings etc., try to limit the number of meetings to those, which you really need to attend. Learn to say no! Decline those for which they have not sent you an agenda!

Step 5: Focus to Get it Done

Focus on the first thing first. When you are done, you can focus on the next one. One thing at a time.

Step 6: Regain Focus

It happens to all of us. We get distracted nonetheless, and that is fine, if it does not happen too often. Regain focus by asking yourself this simple question: “If you had a heart attack and had to work two hours per day, what would you do?” (Tim Ferris).

Step 7: Review & Relax

Review what you have accomplished today! Probably more than a lot of people would have accomplished in three days!